Department for Communities and Local Government

Building Regulations

Jo Churchill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that building safety regulations for new build housing is enforced.

Alok Sharma: The person undertaking building work is responsible for compliance with the building regulations. All new build housing is subject to supervision by a building control body, who have a legal duty to take all reasonable steps to ascertain if the building work complies with the relevant requirements of the building regulations.Local authorities have enforcement powers to order alteration or removal of building work which contravenes the building regulations and bring a prosecution in the Magistrates’ Court for a breach of the building regulations. In 2015 the previous limit on fines for breaches of building regulations was lifted so fines on conviction for breach of the building regulations are now unlimited.

High Rise Flats: Fires

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with his French counterparts on the Mermoz Tower fire in Roubaix in 2012.

Alok Sharma: I have not spoken with my French counterpart relating to the Mermoz Tower fire. However, my officials are engaged in work gathering international comparisons as part of our Building Safety Programme.In reaching its conclusions, the Independent Review led by Dame Judith Hackitt, will draw upon international experience of regulatory frameworks.

Insulation: Safety

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to strengthen product safety and market surveillance of cladding as a result of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Alok Sharma: The Government will consider this issue in light of the Independent Review on Building Regulations and Fire Safety, the findings of the Public Inquiry and on going work to review building safety.

Energy: Housing

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what targets the Government has for improving the energy efficiency of (a) new build homes and (b) existing properties.

Alok Sharma: As set out in the Housing White Paper - Fixing our broken housing market – we have started work on a review of the cost effectiveness of current minimum energy efficiency standards in the Building Regulations for new homes. We will consult on improving the requirements on new homes if evidence suggests that there are opportunities to do so without making homes less affordable for those who want to buy their own home. The review will also consider the energy efficiency requirements for works to existing properties covered by the Building Regulations, such as home extensions.The forthcoming Clean Growth Plan will also set out our ambitions for improving the energy efficiency of existing properties more widely.All of this work will be in context of the Independent Review on Building Regulations and Fire Safety, the findings of the Public Inquiry and on going building safety work.

Letting Agents: Fees and Charges

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the responses to the Government's consultation exercise on the implementation of a ban on letting agency fees paid by tenants.

Alok Sharma: We plan to publish the responses to the Government's consultation exercise on the implementation of a ban on letting agency fees paid by tenants shortly.

Letting Agents: Fees and Charges

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the planned timetable is for bringing forward proposals to ban letting agency fees paid by tenants.

Alok Sharma: We will bring them forward shortly.

Social Rented Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has for new council housing deals with local authorities to provide more social housing.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has put in place to encourage local councils to build new fixed-term social houses with an automatic right-to-buy.

Alok Sharma: We want to explore how local authorities can build high quality sustainable communities. We are looking to strike housing deals with councils to support ambitious and innovative plans for additional homes in high demand areas, including pro-development councils that wish to build more council housing. We are making good progress and will announce further details in due course.

Travellers: Caravan Sites

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he makes of the adequacy of the number of transit pitches made available to Travellers in (a) England and (b) South Gloucestershire.

Alok Sharma: The Government has made no such estimates. It is the responsibility of local authorities to assess all local housing needs through their local plan.

Housing Infrastructure Fund: Barnet

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much has been received by the London Borough of Barnet from the Housing Infrastructure Fund; and which projects have been so funded.

Alok Sharma: The £2.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund, launched on 4 July 2017, will unlock up to 100,000 new homes by supporting the delivery of vital physical infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, energy networks and other utilities. Local authorities have been invited to submit bids by 28 September and decisions about funding will be taken after this date.

Grenfell Tower: Fires

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2017 to Question 4915, whether the Government is still requesting samples of cladding material.

Alok Sharma: Testing facilities remain available to private building owners, free of charge.The Secretary of State encourages private building owners to submit samples of Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding for screening. The screening tests are identifying what kind of ACM is present to ensure we have a complete picture of the private sector.

Empty Property: Greater London

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to support bringing derelict homes back into use in Greater London.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 14 September 2017



The number of empty homes is at its lowest since records began in 2004. In May 2010 over 300,000 homes in England had been standing empty for longer than 6 months. As of October 2016 the number of long-term empty properties had fallen to 200,145. Local authorities have powers and strong incentives to tackle empty homes. Through the New Homes Bonus they earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. Councils may also charge up to 150 per cent council tax for homes empty for over two years.

Social Rented Housing

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to increase the provision of social housing in England.

Alok Sharma: We want to explore how local authorities can build high quality sustainable communities. We are looking to strike housing deals with councils to support ambitious and innovative plans for additional homes in high demand areas, including pro-development councils that wish to build more council housing. We are making good progress and will announce further details in due course.We are clear that boosting affordable housing supply is a Government priority. To support this, at Autumn Statement 2016 we announced an £1.4 billion expansion of the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme (SOAHP) 2016-21 which increased the overall budget to £7.1 billion. So far we have delivered nearly 333,000 new affordable homes since 2010, including 240,000 affordable homes for rent.As the Secretary of State announced on 19 September, we will bring forward a Green Paper on social housing in England. This will be a wide-ranging, top-to-bottom review of the issues facing the sector, including quality and safety, tenant rights and voice, and wider issues of place, community and the local economy.

Housing: Construction

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2017 to Question 9228, how many residential units have been granted planning permission by (a) region and (b) local authority since Quarter 2 of 2007.

Alok Sharma: The information requested is not available.

Ministry of Justice

Prisons: Wigan

Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, where the funding will come from for the building of the proposed prison at Hindley.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The proposed redevelopment of Hindley prison is part of the £1.3 billion investment to reform and modernise the prison estate by replacing ageing and ineffective prisons with up to 10,000 modern prison places. The oldest and most inadequate local prisons will be considered for closure and the receipts will be used to fund this transformation programme.

Prisoners: Discrimination

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2017 to Question 7019, if he will make it his policy to record centrally reports of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism and homophobia in prisons.

Mr Sam Gyimah: We will consider this alongside our consideration of the recommendations of the Lammy Review into Race in the Criminal Justice System.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Microplastics

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to lay regulations on the use of microbeads.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: On Friday 21st July, the Government published the summary of responses to our consultation on plans to ban the manufacture and sale of cosmetics and personal care products containing microbeads. We notified our proposals under the Technical Standards Directive (EU) and the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (WTO) on 28 July. This stage in the process takes 3 months and will end on 28 October subject to there being no valid objections. We intend to introduce legislation later this year.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Sign Language

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department takes to provide (a) information on its services in British Sign Language (BSL) and (b) correspondence in BSL to people whose principal language is BSL.

George Eustice: The Department communicates in the best way for our audiences and aims to meet specific communication or access to information requirements as requested or when a specific need has been identified.Under the Equalities Act 2010, we have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that customers with disabilities can use our services as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard usually offered to non-disabled customers. To achieve this, we offer a variety of ways for customers to contact us, either with a general enquiry or to make a complaint, including by letter, telephone or email. We will always try to accommodate any request for adjustments from our customers to aid their communications with us.